The Holmes Brothers and "Brotherhood"

"I usually try to write songs that have meanings," Sherman Holmes was saying. "Maybe that's why we're not commercial enough, but I figure there's enough commercial stuff out there already."

That might be as succinct an explanation of why fans of The Holmes Brothers adore the trio's music as anything we could supply, but the best news this month is that "Brotherhood," the band's fifth album for Alligator Records and 12th overall is just out, and they'll be playing at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on Wednesday (May 7).

The Holmes Brothers grew up in Christchurch, Virginia, in a musical family, and by 1979 they were a band--brothers Sherman Holmes on bass, Wendell Holmes on guitar and piano, and their pal Popsy Dixon on drums, with all three providing vocals. Eventually they moved to New York and began recording, but it wasn't until 2001 when rock star Joan Osborne produced their Alligator Records debut, "Speaking in Tongues," that they really broke through to wider audiences. Osborne had met the trio at the club in the Big Apple where they served as the house band, including backing weekly open mikes.

But getting back to Sherman Holmes and talking about songwriting, the new album includes 14 songs, including six written by Wendell, and two by Sherman. He was explaining how he had written "Passing Through," a stirring soul anthem that rides a chugging organ melody, before a horn section on the record lifts it into a joyful ode to keeping on.

"A couple years ago I lost a young cousin, to lung cancer," said Sherman. "She had been like a daughter to me, and I wanted to see her. By the time I got down to South Carolina to see her, she had lapsed into a coma, and died soon after. On my way back, at a rest stop, I saw this truck with lettering on the side, saying 'We're all just passing through.' I built the song around that, wanting to say how we should all remember we're only here for a short time and we have to treat each other better and not waste any time doing it."

Sherman went on to note that when he and his brother wrote songs for the band, they tended to write separately, each bringing pretty well finished tunes to the band to work up the arrangements together. The Holmes Brothers easily veer into soul, gospel, roots rock and doo-wop flavors, but some observers have termed this latest CD their bluesiest effort in a long time.

"I think so," said Sherman, "although maybe not in the traditional type of blues. We cover a lot of ground. I hope people accept it, because blues seems to have fallen back a bit. But we can hold our own in a lot of styles, even if we are all in our seventies now."

Among the new record's highlights, Wendell's "Stayed at the Party" is a raucous roots-rocker, where an older and wiser person submits he's still not averse to a good time. Wendell's "My Word is My Bond" is a rockin' blues march, while his "Loving You From Afar" is a nifty bit of falsetto soul, with incredible vocal harmonies driving the ballad. Along with "Passing Through," Sherman penned "Last Man Standing," a wonderfully jaunty piano boogie. But Wendell's "Lickety Split" might be the hidden gem, with a impossibly infectious melodic and rhythmic hook, as he sings defiantly of "swimming against the tide."

Several of the half-dozen covers on the new CD stand out, but the most popular will probably be the trio's re-working of "Amazing Grace." The band's treatment runs 7:39, and features a complex vocal arrangement, where two of the singers harmonize on the verses while the third, singing a half-beat behind like an echo, provides falsetto contrasts. A second section gets into pure vocal improvisation, with all three singers displaying their soaring range and doo wop/gospel roots. It's a stunning interpretation of the classic hymn, and has been a concert staple for years.

"We had recorded 'Amazing Grace' once before, for Peter Gabriel's label, so people at our shows always requested it," said Sherman. "We always had no problem playing it on stage when they asked for it, and that arrangement just evolved as we went along. We didn't think a lot about how we wanted to change it or anything--we all knew the song so well, because we grew up in the church and sang it for years."

The Holmes Brothers do a fabulous cover of Curtis Salgado's "Drivin' In the Drivin' Rain," a soul ballad where the singer is looking back on lost chances. In the trio's version, their heart-rending vocals are set against some whipsaw guitar lines.

"Someone at Alligator suggested that tune to us," said Sherman. "As working musicians who've been on the road as long as we have, we can surely relate to driving in the rain."

Ike Turner's "You've Got to Lose" has a great 1950's r&b feel, while the easy groove of soul icons William Bell and Booker T's "My Kind of Girl" is simply irresistible. And Geraint Watkin's ballad "Soldier of Love" gives the Holmes Brothers a chance to craft the kind of buttery soul vocals that are all too rare these days. Intriguingly, Sherman mentioned that one track that had to be left off this record was one he really liked, a take on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Green River," but that just gives music fans something to savor on the next one.

The Holmes Brothers come by their ability to switch effortlessly between styles the old fashioned way; they had to become adaptable as a working band in their early years.

"We had been the house band in a club in Great Neck, Long Island when we first came north," Sherman pointed out. "We opened a lot of shows for their headliners, and backed some of them too. We played for a lot of people like the Coasters, and The Impressions, and we learned a lot from those folks. When we were children, we had a cousin who owned a juke joint in Norfolk, Virginia, and usually got all the big bands, so that was also a good time to learn."

Sherman added that he's been moved back to Virginia for eight years now, while Dixon lives in Essex County, Maryland, although they recorded the new album in New York City.

"I miss New York and the activity there," said Sherman. "But down here, I can leave my truck outside all night, full of all my instruments, and not worry. I have a lot of family here, a whole clan of Holmeses. We play all over, and play abroad a lot, but we also work around here too. We like to do fundraisers here in our county, and we just did one to help fund equipment for the local Fire & Rescue Squad. It's all volunteer Fire departments down there, and we don't mind doing benefits for people like that."

While the new record includes some guest musicians, notably producer Glenn Patscha on keyboards and a few cuts with horns, on stage the threesome stubbornly performs their music without any special effects. Don't look for any laptops or synthesizers at Scullers on Wednesday.

"We don't use special effects," Sherman hooted when asked about that. "We never even thought about it, never even tried! We don't even use reverb. It's all us and our own instruments. We just try to get the sounds we need out of the instruments we have, and ourselves."

For more than five decades, that's been enough for fans of the Holmes Brothers.

"I usually try to write songs that have meanings," Sherman Holmes was saying. "Maybe that's why we're not commercial enough, but I figure there's enough commercial stuff out there already."
That might be as succinct an explanation of why fans of The Holmes Brothers adore the trio's music as anything we could supply, but the best news this month is that "Brotherhood," the band's fifth album for Alligator Records and 12th overall is just out, and they'll be playing at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on Wednesday (May 7).
The Holmes Brothers grew up in Christchurch, Virginia, in a musical family, and by 1979 they were a band--brothers Sherman Holmes on bass, Wendell Holmes on guitar and piano, and their pal Popsy Dixon on drums, with all three providing vocals. Eventually they moved to New York and began recording, but it wasn't until 2001 when rock star Joan Osborne produced their Alligator Records debut, "Speaking in Tongues," that they really broke through to wider audiences. Osborne had met the trio at the club in the Big Apple where they served as the house band, including backing weekly open mikes.
But getting back to Sherman Holmes and talking about songwriting, the new album includes 14 songs, including six written by Wendell, and two by Sherman. He was explaining how he had written "Passing Through," a stirring soul anthem that rides a chugging organ melody, before a horn section on the record lifts it into a joyful ode to keeping on.
"A couple years ago I lost a young cousin, to lung cancer," said Sherman. "She had been like a daughter to me, and I wanted to see her. By the time I got down to South Carolina to see her, she had lapsed into a coma, and died soon after. On my way back, at a rest stop, I saw this truck with lettering on the side, saying 'We're all just passing through.' I built the song around that, wanting to say how we should all remember we're only here for a short time and we have to treat each other better and not waste any time doing it."
Sherman went on to note that when he and his brother wrote songs for the band, they tended to write separately, each bringing pretty well finished tunes to the band to work up the arrangements together. The Holmes Brothers easily veer into soul, gospel, roots rock and doo-wop flavors, but some observers have termed this latest CD their bluesiest effort in a long time.
"I think so," said Sherman, "although maybe not in the traditional type of blues. We cover a lot of ground. I hope people accept it, because blues seems to have fallen back a bit. But we can hold our own in a lot of styles, even if we are all in our seventies now."
Among the new record's highlights, Wendell's "Stayed at the Party" is a raucous roots-rocker, where an older and wiser person submits he's still not averse to a good time. Wendell's "My Word is My Bond" is a rockin' blues march, while his "Loving You From Afar" is a nifty bit of falsetto soul, with incredible vocal harmonies driving the ballad. Along with "Passing Through," Sherman penned "Last Man Standing," a wonderfully jaunty piano boogie. But Wendell's "Lickety Split" might be the hidden gem, with a impossibly infectious melodic and rhythmic hook, as he sings defiantly of "swimming against the tide."
Several of the half-dozen covers on the new CD stand out, but the most popular will probably be the trio's re-working of "Amazing Grace." The band's treatment runs 7:39, and features a complex vocal arrangement, where two of the singers harmonize on the verses while the third, singing a half-beat behind like an echo, provides falsetto contrasts. A second section gets into pure vocal improvisation, with all three singers displaying their soaring range and doo wop/gospel roots. It's a stunning interpretation of the classic hymn, and has been a concert staple for years.
"We had recorded 'Amazing Grace' once before, for Peter Gabriel's label, so people at our shows always requested it," said Sherman. "We always had no problem playing it on stage when they asked for it, and that arrangement just evolved as we went along. We didn't think a lot about how we wanted to change it or anything--we all knew the song so well, because we grew up in the church and sang it for years."
The Holmes Brothers do a fabulous cover of Curtis Salgado's "Drivin' In the Drivin' Rain," a soul ballad where the singer is looking back on lost chances. In the trio's version, their heart-rending vocals are set against some whipsaw guitar lines.
"Someone at Alligator suggested that tune to us," said Sherman. "As working musicians who've been on the road as long as we have, we can surely relate to driving in the rain."
Ike Turner's "You've Got to Lose" has a great 1950's r&b feel, while the easy groove of soul icons William Bell and Booker T's "My Kind of Girl" is simply irresistible. And Geraint Watkin's ballad "Soldier of Love" gives the Holmes Brothers a chance to craft the kind of buttery soul vocals that are all too rare these days. Intriguingly, Sherman mentioned that one track that had to be left off this record was one he really liked, a take on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Green River," but that just gives music fans something to savor on the next one.
The Holmes Brothers come by their ability to switch effortlessly between styles the old fashioned way; they had to become adaptable as a working band in their early years.
"We had been the house band in a club in Great Neck, Long Island when we first came north," Sherman pointed out. "We opened a lot of shows for their headliners, and backed some of them too. We played for a lot of people like the Coasters, and The Impressions, and we learned a lot from those folks. When we were children, we had a cousin who owned a juke joint in Norfolk, Virginia, and usually got all the big bands, so that was also a good time to learn."
Sherman added that he's been moved back to Virginia for eight years now, while Dixon lives in Essex County, Maryland, although they recorded the new album in New York City.
"I miss New York and the activity there," said Sherman. "But down here, I can leave my truck outside all night, full of all my instruments, and not worry. I have a lot of family here, a whole clan of Holmeses. We play all over, and play abroad a lot, but we also work around here too. We like to do fundraisers here in our county, and we just did one to help fund equipment for the local Fire & Rescue Squad. It's all volunteer Fire departments down there, and we don't mind doing benefits for people like that."
While the new record includes some guest musicians, notably producer Glenn Patscha on keyboards and a few cuts with horns, on stage the threesome stubbornly performs their music without any special effects. Don't look for any laptops or synthesizers at Scullers on Wednesday.
"We don't use special effects," Sherman hooted when asked about that. "We never even thought about it, never even tried! We don't even use reverb. It's all us and our own instruments. We just try to get the sounds we need out of the instruments we have, and ourselves."
For more than five decades, that's been enough for fans of the Holmes Brothers.

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